Truth Test: 'American Commitment' ad

Florida's senate race is now flooded with new negative campaign ads against incumbent Bill Nelson.

This week, a new television advertisement criticizes Nelson on several levels for his involvement with the Health Care Reform Act.

NBC2 Investigator Andy Pierrotti truth-tested two of those claims:

1. "Bill Nelson was the deciding vote."

According to senate voting records, Senator Nelson voted in favor of the healthcare bill in December 2009.

But so did 59 other senators and Nelson didn't make any special requests to delay the bill.

We rank this claim false.

2. "The bill could cost up to $2 trillion."

According to University of South Florida's Dr. Jay Wolfson, that figure is off.

"I think if you go with what's been budgeted by the [General Accounting Office] and fact-checked by them, it's about $1 trillion, not $2 trillion," said Dr. Wolfson, a public health policy expert.

To be fair, Dr. Wolfson says government estimates on welfare and healthcare programs are historically higher than first projected, and it could grow more than $1 trillion.

But the claim is $2 trillion, so we rank the claim false

American Commitment paid for the ad. It's one of several conservative advocacy groups spending millions in Florida to attack Senator Nelson.

Considered a non-profit, it's not required to disclose donors.

"In general, the non-candidate groups, that's the third party groups, have higher levels of deception than candidates' ads," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson with the Annenburg Public Policy Center.

Jamieson says when voters can't identify someone who produces a deceptive ad, it's hard to hold anyone accountable, "Which means the candidate who benefits, doesn't carry any penalty for being elected as a result of deception," Jamieson argues.

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